1. What proportion of transactions have involved a financial
sponsor as a buyer or seller in the jurisdiction over the last 24
months?
During the course of 2021 and the first half of 2022, we
continued to see financial sponsors being a key driver of M&A
activity in the Irish market. However, as Central Banks across the
world continued with interest rates increases over the latter half
of 2022 and over the course of 2023, leading to higher financing
costs on M&A transactions, the level of PE led activity has
decreased, certainly in so far as new platform deals are
concerned.
To put the activity levels in context, in 2021, financial
sponsors were involved in approximately, one third of all Irish
M&A transactions (57 of 169 in 2021). However in 2022 and over
the course of the first six months of 2023, that figure had reduced
to approximately one fifth of all transactions (62 of 300 in 2022
and 34 of 177 in the first six months of 2023) and the higher
interest rate
